This speaks again for Alaska Airlines and what a great Airline it is. There is a flight tomorrow from Anchorage to Honolulu, Flight 870 (follow on FlightAware). The flight path would intersect tomorrows solar eclipse, only problem the plane wouldn’t be at the right spot at the right time. So what happened? Alaska Airlines moved the departure time 25 minutes back. Now the plane will intercept the solar eclipse, when sun, moon and earth line up tomorrow in one line.

(c) NASA

Joe Rao, an associate astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium, discovered about a year ago that the flight path would intersect the “path of totality” – the darkest shadow of the moon as it passes over the Earth.

Aboard this plane will be many astronomers and eclipse chasers besides all the other people just on their way from Anchorage to Honolulu. For the people on this plane the sun will be completely blocked for 1 minute and 53 seconds by the moon.

Alaska Airlines put some effort in this project to make it happen and to have the plane ready to go and scheduled to intersect this spectacular moment.

(c) Alaska Airlines

“We on the Alaska Airlines flight will be the last people in the world to see this eclipse – nobody will see it after us.” says Craig Small, a semi-retired astronomer from the Hayden Planetarium.

Next year, 2017, we will have “The Great American Eclipse” – August 21, 2017 – which will be the first total solar eclipse to sweep across the entire United States since 1918.

More info about “The Great American Eclipse”:

http://www.eclipse2017.org

http://www.greatamericaneclipse.com

As you guessed, the flight is already booked out. To bad that I didn’t knew about this opportunity earlier. I would have booked a flight immediately, just to be on board and experience this rare event from an even more rare viewpoint.

Peter has a passion for Traveling, Photography, and Geocaching. These are the best ingredients for amazing adventures all over the globe. “Traveling is fun, no matter if you stay in a luxury hotel or travel like a backpacker.” Peter shares his experiences on his Blog www.gatetoadventures.com
Some of Peter’s photos are published on corporate websites, in-flight magazines, travel guides, and much more.